Signs: Temporary closure

This section of the Ala Kahakai trail on the Big Island has been temporarily closed for 10 years now.
Back in 2006, an earthquake off the west coast of the Big Island caused extensive damage. One of the casualties was this trail. Part of the cliff it traverses slid into the sea and the path was deemed unsafe. But this wasn’t just some local trail. It’s the Ala Kahakai trail, also known as the King’s Trail, which followed the coast from North Kohala all the way along the west and south coasts to the Puna District in the southeast of the island.

Just beyond this sign is a private gated community and specifically a very large, very expensive house (currently available for 10 or 11 million dollars – it’s been for sale for a while). The trail wasn’t popular with the home’s original owners, who put up a barbed wire barrier (well, I suspect they didn’t actually do the work).

Anyway, the trail has been temporarily closed for 10 years now and, as is the way around here, I suspect it will remain permanently temporarily closed. That is, until the next significant earthquake detaches another stretch of cliff and sends the big house sliding into the ocean. Then, who knows?

Palenose parrotfish

A palenose parrotfish swims with a school of whitebar surgeonfish.
This is a palenose parrotfish passing through a school of whitebar surgeonfish. Most parrotfish attain this kind of color when they reach adulthood. Often times it appears somewhat muted, but when the sun catches them they are iridescent and stand out as much or more than anything else in the water.

In my attempts to identify what I see in the water, I use John P. Hoover’s book The Ultimate Guide to Hawaiian Reef Fishes, Sea Turtles, Dolphins, Whales, and Seals. His website is hawaiisfishes.com.

Passion vine butterfly caterpillar

A passion vine butterfly caterpillar on the Big Island.
I took some photos of a passion vine butterfly flitting around a hedge and when I looked at them at home I noticed a distinctive caterpillar in the background. So next day, I returned, hoping it might still be there. Not to worry. The hedge was literally crawling with them. That’s when I noticed the passion vine twining through the hedge.

The spines and orange and black coloring are nature’s way of saying ‘watch out.’ This caterpillar is poisonous if eaten, not that I was tempted. They also have a voracious appetite and can defoliate a plant, especially a young one. Certainly, the ones I watched munched their way through leaves with great thoroughness.

A passion vine butterfly caterpillar chews a leaf on the Big Island.